KUALA LUMPUR: The finance ministry is redrafting the policy and scope of “wang ehsan”, or goodwill payment, to the Kelantan and Terengganu governments.
Deputy finance minister Ahmad Maslan said redrafting the use of the wang ehsan funds was in line with the national agenda to reduce poverty in the two east coast states.
“However, petroleum revenue will be paid directly to the states if oil was discovered and obtained within the states’ territorial waters of three nautical miles as measured from the low-water line as per the Territorial Sea Act 2012 (Act 750),” he said during the winding-up of the ministry’s debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address in the Dewan Negara today.
He said the flow of wang ehsan to the state governments was at the discretion of the federal government, seeing that no oil had been obtained based on the terms of Act 750.
Ahmad also revealed that wang ehsan payments in 2022 to Kelantan totalled RM344.60 million, while Terengganu received RM1.69 billion.